iPod battery R.I.P

I knew it would happen one day. All good things must come to an end, eh? My 3rd generation iPod began to putter out, unable to keep up with me and my 6 hour walk excursions. Now it's only able to play when hooked up a power outlet or in my car, which somewhat diminishes its use.

In the old days (what, two years ago?) you as a battery-challenged iPod owner would go ask Apple "Hey, what do I do now?" and they would say "Go buy another iPod." Yikes. Now, they'll take your $60, your iPod, and in a few weeks send you a refurbished one (minus all the music you might have had on it.) Better, but not great.

Fortunatley, a number of companies have sprung up to help. I settled on MacResQ because they offered the simplest process and lowest price for those not wishing to do the battery swap themselves. There were others, like IpodJuice that are probably great but I found their checkout process too cumbersome, and just a tad more expensive.

Eagerly, I paid the $64 via the MacResQ site (which also takes PayPal, and does all sorts of iPod and powerbook repairs). Next day at work I got a cute box of foam with room for two ipods and a return shipping sticker. I put in my precious iPod, sealed it up, walked back over to the mailroom. Next day I get an e-mail saying they got my iPod, swapped out the battery and are sending it back. Hooray!

So presumably Saturday or Monday it'll arrive at work and I'll have it next week, ready to handle my rigorous music demands.

UPDATE: My ipod has returned and has yet to run out of power. Thank you, MacResQ!